And those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways; and Allah is most surely with the doers of good. 29:69 The Quran

Hezbollah: A Prospect for Peace

Syed Javed Hussain

A lie has many faces and it always requires a great deal of uncommon commonsense called wisdom to uncover the truth behind the façade of propaganda. The same is true with the present day imbroglio in the Middle East. Since 1982 we are hearing from Israeli controlled International Media that Hezbollah is a terrorist group, the chorus the State Department of the US joined in vigorously in 2001 after the New York debacle of September 11. The truth is lost in the maze of unrelenting, consistent and unsparing propaganda.

The whole world has been divided into two warring camps havingdiametrically different perceptions on Hezbollah in the Middle East. In the lands of Islam Hezbollah is considered as a nationalist group fighting for the sovereignty and integrity of its land whereas in the West due to the Jewish control on media a different perception for Hezbollah has been created: Hamas in Palestine is yet another organisation that shares this morbid perception in the Western mind.

Hezbollah is being branded as a terrorist organisation because in 1982 the year of its inception it fought for Lebanon’s sovereignty and integrity and waged a resistance movement against Israeli attacking forces as Lebanese army could not do so and finally it forced Israel to withdraw from Lebanon. What would have been the fate of Lebanon otherwise? Would it be different from the present day occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip? Since then Hezbollah has maintained deterrence to Israeli army in the south of Lebanon and protected country’s sovereignty.

Hezbollah is a semi-political resistance nationalist movement against Israel. It derives its powers from its overriding Lebanese public support who predominantly consider Hezbollah as a nationalist party ready to go to any extent to safeguard the integrity, solidarity and sovereignty of their country.

So what legitimacy does the demand on the part of the US and Israel have while calling for disarming of Hezbollah except that one is presently the supreme power of the world and the other is its illegitimate sycophant. Revealing a stunning historical amnesia the US, Israel and their erstwhile cronies as well as other part-time stalwarts in International diplomacy are blaming Hezbollah for starting the present crisis in the Middle East after capturing two Israeli soldiers on 12th July.

Under the influence of Judo-Christian fanatic lobbies the international media in the West too is largely overlooking the fact that Middle East crisis is the spearheaded by the US in the last fifty years.

Hezbollah/Lebanon and Israel are technically at war with each other since Israel has not completely withdrawn from Lebanon area as envisaged in often quoted 1559 UN resolution. There are still hundreds of Lebanese women and children in Israeli prisons which Israel has been refusing to release. Hezbollah did not violate Geneva Convention by capturing the two soldiers and demanding the release of its own prisoners in exchange. It was quite legitimate as well as humanitarian act as long as it did not mistreat the prisoners. Hezbollah’s demand was legal as well as in line with all ancient and modern norms of war in any civil society.

But what to do with a party who would not understand any logic and would not respect any human institutions and traditions as long as they were not Jewish? Israel since its inception has proved to be a source of bickering, mistrust and constant squabbling for a large part of humanity all across the globe. Does it sound anti-Semitic?

It should not. What wrongs have the ancient settlers of the land ofPalestine have done that now after 50 years since the inception of Israel, their lives have become miserable nonhuman; where the only source of escape from misery, gloom, degradation and intolerable existence is Death.

Still wonder why young people blow themselves up in crowded Israeli markets and restaurants so daringly? All countries surrounding Israel are antithesis of Israel: they have history, human traditions and respect to life to begin with whereas Israel has only tunnel vision on Zionism considering everything else as disposable, contingent and complementary.

They are the centre of their own whole universe and every other human- being is essentially looked down upon and are peoples of lesser gods. Hence idea of a two-nation State was floated by Mr Bush under the diabolical influence of pro-Israel lobbies in the US regenerating hackneyed apartheid of South Africa.

Why did Jewish politicians in Israel fail to give equal political, economic, social, cultural and human rights to Palestinians living beside them in occupied territories? Why did Israeli politicians fail to give rights to people under occupation under scores of UN resolutions?

Why millions of Palestinians were forced to live in makeshift camps and shanty towns whereas in their midst new settlements were being constructed. And now when after decades of sheer labour displaying human intransigence for survival Palestinians were able to build some social and political infrastructure, Israel is destroying all that along with the very builder:can anyone judge the bounds of their despair and frustration.

Even then the West wonders why people can blow themselves up so readily. The Death is the cheapest and the most available commodity in the West Bank and Gaza Stripe and now in Lebanon.

Syria is being blamed for arming Hezbollah as if it has committed some sort of felony. Is the West deaf and blind and cannot see and hear milling processions in the lands of Islam; people shouting at top of voices their support to Syed Hassan Nasrullah, the charismatic secretary general of Hezbollah? It is not the clash of civilisations but a clash of perceptions: the west cannot or does not see the other side of the coin and once its blinders are removed it will see a new reality in the Middle East and in the lands of Islam across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The blame for plunging the Middle East and the whole world into the present crisis is squarely laid on Israel and its unthinking mentor and supporter, the supreme power of the present day world, The US. There are tens of UN resolutions on Israel which are set in abeyance because their compliance hurts Israel.

The implementation of resolution 1559 is being demanded on war footings only to turn Israel’s defeat in Lebanon in 1982 into a victory. Who believes except gullible half wits of the West that Israel willingly and in respect to International Community withdrew from Southern Lebanon in 2000?

Why did it take so long to withdraw from Lebanon and that too not completely? Israelis were kicked out of Lebanon by Hezbollah guerrillas who won honour, dignity, integrity and sovereignty for their country spilling their blood. Lebanon honours this.

That’s why there is no demand made in Lebanon for disarming of Hezbollah from government quarters of which Hezbollah itself is a ruling member. Certain Western cronies are there, as they are in all societies, who work against their own society and such elements are to be taken care of according to the law of the land. There is an urgent need that Mossad and CIA agents are removed from Lebanon immediately to allow a peace a chance in this war torn country.

Hezbollah cannot be a terrorist organisation because it only has a national agenda. It wants to eliminate Israel as long as it does not come in terms with international rules of game and live peacefully with its neighbours returning all occupied lands to their lawful owners and releasing thousands of innocent prisoners languishing in Israeli jails for the last many years. Israel as a nation is exactly doing what according to its own ambassador’s definition of terrorism it should not do. Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Ambassador Yehuda Lancry — in a statement said, “Let us be clear: the indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians to advance political or religious objectives is terrorism, no matter how its apologists seek to label it.”

Information

Why did it take so long to withdraw from Lebanon and that too not ﻿ completely? Israelis were kicked out of Lebanon by Hezbollah guerrillas who won honour, dignity, integrity and sovereignty for their country spilling their blood. Lebanon honours this.﻿